Stories about Freedom of Speech from September, 2006
Turkey is Typing…
As that transition from the lazy days of Summer turn into Fall, a gloomy spell has fallen over the Turkish bloggers this week…and actually, I can agree with them myself. Murat from American Turk writes about the frustration of the day to day mundane of the office: I'm unhappy at...
Singapore and Hong Kong: ban FEER
The Far Eastern Economic Review's editor blogs about the decision of singapore government to ban the magazine: “It has explicitly warned that not only is the Review Publishing Company forbidden from importing or distributing the Hong Kong-based monthly, but Singaporeans will also commit a criminal offense if they import or...
Ethiopia: were blogs blocked?
“One day Ethiopia had one of the busiest and fastest-growing blogging scenes in the whole of Africa. The next, more than two-thirds of its online journals simply disappeared,” begins the BBC's Focus on Africa magazine article about the great Ethiopian blog blockage.
Iran:A blog service was filtered by mistake!
According to Reportes without Borders,a blog service, Persianblog.com[Fa], was briefly blocked “by mistake” by Iranian Internet Service Providers. In Persian blog we read access to 650,000 blogs got blocked for a day [Fa].
Tunisia: Opening prisons to the world
At this site, I’m trying to show videos that show or speak about human rights abuses, and – as in the Tunisian video above – the impact of human rights abuses on ordinary people. I don’t speak Arabic, so how do I know what this video’s about? It's thanks to...
Hong Kong: GP batteries sues labour groups
A citizen journalist report at interlocals.net on a transnational corporation's legal action against labour groups to stop them from exposing the heavy metal poisoning situation in their production line in China and Hong Kong.
More banned journals and Khatami in the USA
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists, the Iranian media is under an increasing amount of governmental pressure. More newspapers and magazines such as daily Shargh and the monthlies Nameh and Hafez have been shut down by the Commission for Authorizing and Monitoring the Press,...
Bulgaria: More on “Tripoli Six” Blog Campaign
Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature, reports that the blog campaign to help free the “Tripoli Six” seems to be gaining momentum. Also, he writes that “Mickey Grant, a filmmaker from Dallas, Texas, has, in response to the blog campaign, today made his full, 1h 22 min, 2003 documentary...
Hong Kong: blog as education tool
A survey found 73% high school students are bloggers but some secondary schools prohibit students from blogging. Local blogger, He Gu was interviewed by local newspapers concerning blogger culture: Knowing that some secondary schools have prohibited students to write blog, we can see another example that the development of technology...
China: The Unpublished FoxConn Story
ESWN translates a blog post by Southern Weekend reporter Fu Jianfeng about the FoxConn and the First Financial Daily's dispute. The story was banned in the newspapers and found its way in the internet.
Philippines: First Online Press Conference
An online press conference, a first in Philippine internet history, was held last September 21 when the 34th anniversary of Martial Law was commemorated by Filipinos. The online press forum was conducted by partylist representative Satur Ocampo, a former journalist and political detainee. The event, which was facilitated by Yehey!,...
China: a teacher put to jail
The story came from a reporter BBS and re-posted in zhao mu's blog. A teacher Qin Zhong-fei sent out a mobile message, a lyrics that criticized the corruption and land dispute in Peng Shui in Sichuan province. On 31 of August, he was caught by local police and put on...
Iran:A tortured political leader
Roozmaregiha writes that Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoini, jailed political prisoner and former deputy in Iranian parliament, seized opportunity at his father's funeral where he had found a few minutes of freedom to say he has been under torture in prison.The blogger adds Mousavi is not an ordinary prisoner; he is...
Thailand: Putting up with the coup
Fringer.org tries to answer just why many Thais while resenting the limits on their freedom of speech are still willing to put up with the coup.
Bangladesh blog buzz
The latest happenings in Bangladeshi blogs around the world: * Education: Tanvir of Journal of a Disturbed Mind blog criticizes the new grading system of school final examination -S.S.C. (Grade 10) in Bangladesh. Students in some regions are getting the top GPA 5 grade in greater numbers; however they are...
Hong Kong: GWF investigation
The Internet Society Hong Kong has carried out an investigation on the suspected blocking of ntscmp.com website by Nevigator and HGC; Charles Mok blogs the findings: we cannot find any evidence of a block imposed by the accused ISPs on the website in question. Connections from these ISPs to the...
Syrian Blogsphere in a Week
To kick off this week, Ghalia welcomes the holy month of Ramadan in her special way, with another beautiful shot of her camera… “Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur-an, as a guide to mankind, also Clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong)…”...
Blog Roundup: MIB Forum
The Forum was held in Chancellor's Hall, University Brunei Darussalam only a few nights ago, Wednesday night, to be exact. Now, it is already Sunday, yet the noise it made still reverberates all throughout the usually very quiet nation and the even more quiet blogging scene. The Forum was a...
Pana-Blogs Report
#1: From Panama FAQ: Panama's Tap Water – The Best in the World? This might surprise people coming from the US and Europe as I often see them logging bags full of bottled water back to their hotels. But the drinking water in Panama is not only safe to drink,...
China: listen to the movie producer
The latest movie “The City of Golden Armor” directed by Zhang Yi-Mou was released on September 20, but reporters had not been invited to the movie preview. Buchimifan in Bullog quotes the movie producer Mr Zhang Wei Ping's advice to the reporters: “if you criticise our movies, we won't let...
China: Cows, pigs and balls
Last week, two women at Bullog.cn—a blogger's portal unique in that it was set up by prominent bloggers themselves as opposed to a large media corporation—acted on dissatisfaction with what they saw as an old yellow guys club (the Chinese name is Bull Blog) and started their own blog, Cow...